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Tomlin on Bettis: “He is the quintessential Steeler”

By Kris Lancaster for The 3 min read
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LATROBE Aside from focusing on Sunday’s Hall of Fame game and how his team will look, Mike Tomlin also took time to recognize Jerome Bettis and his induction into the Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Although Tomlin never coached Bettis in Pittsburgh, he realizes Bettis’ contributions to the Steelers.

“He’s a tremendous advocate for the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Tomlin said. “He bleeds black and gold. He is the quintessential Steeler.”

While Tomlin has developed a personal relationship with Bettis over the years, the first experience that Tomlin remembers between the two came in 2001 when the Steelers played in Tampa Bay, where Tomlin was the defensive backs coach.

That day Bettis ran for 143 yards on 17 carries, including one of the more iconic runs of his career, a 46-yard touchdown run to highlight a 17-10 Steelers win. Bettis also threw a touchdown pass to tight end Jerame Tuman.

“He hurt us pretty bad that day,” Tomlin said. “It’s one the awesome pleasures of being a part of this thing, to experience the tremendous respect of competing against a guy like that and then getting to know them on a personal level.”

INSIDE THE ROPES

After allowing the offense to score all seven times in the daily installment of seven shots on Thursday, the defense responded with a 5-2 win on Friday. The highlight was big defensive end Stephon Tuitt chasing Antonio Brown down on a sweep. Brown tried to beat Tuitt to the pylon, but Tuitt pushed him out at the one-yard line. Jordan Zumwalt laid a big hit on Matt Spaeth on team drills when Spaeth caught a pass and cut back inside. It was a nice moment for Zumwalt, who has struggled at times throughout camp. Tajh Boyd made a nice back shoulder throw to Sammie Coates down the sideline for a big gain at one point. Coates is starting to look more comfortable with the offense. At one point during a third down drill, Antonio Brown beat Brandon Boykin deep, although Landry Jones didn’t see him open. Brown let Jones know about as he ran back to the huddle. Speaking of Boykin, he picked off a pass during 7-on-7. Boykin ran the ball into the end zone before running over to Mike Tomliin and handing it to him, saying, “There you go, coach.” Tyler Murphy, who has worked mostly at quarterback, did a little bit of everything on Friday. Murphy took snaps at quarterback and wide receiver, along with working with the punt coverage team. QUOTEWORTHY

“Sometimes I pretend like I don’t know their names. And in some instances I don’t.”

— Mike Tomlin, coach, on his tendency to “forget” the names of younger players.

BY THE NUMBERS

13,662: Career rushing yards for Jerome Bettis, sixth all time.

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